


Thirteen Ways of Looking at Serenity

by emungere



Category: Firefly
Genre: Filk, Gen, Inspired by Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-05-18
Updated: 2006-05-18
Packaged: 2018-02-26 04:13:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2637626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emungere/pseuds/emungere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Firefly version of Wallace Stevens's Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thirteen Ways of Looking at Serenity

I   
Among one hundred dusty worlds,   
The only moving thing   
Was the light on my ship's skin. 

II   
Mal was of three minds,   
Like a ship   
With too ruttin' many captains. 

III   
Serenity whirled in the winds of war.   
She was a small part of the pantomime. 

IV   
A man and a woman   
Are one.   
A man and a woman and a ship   
Are one. 

V   
I do not know which to fear,   
The pain of the present   
Or the pain of the promised fall,   
My sister crying   
Or her laughter before. 

VI   
Blood filled the long valley   
With barbaric cries.   
The shadows of the angels   
Crossed it, to and fro.   
Their cause   
Traced in the shadows   
An indecipherable mood. 

VII   
O Independent soldiers,   
Why do you imagine freedom?   
Do you not see how your own side   
Gathers around the feet   
Of your enemies? 

VIII   
I know noble accents   
And lucid, inescapable rhythms;   
But I know, too,   
That my heart is absent  
From what I know. 

IX   
When Serenity flew out of sight,   
She marked The Rim   
Of a growing circle. 

X   
At the first sight of Serenity   
At rest in sun and sand,   
Even Malcolm Reynolds   
Was silent. 

XI   
He rode over Ariel   
Long after it was done.   
Once, a fear pierced him,   
In that he mistook   
The shadow of his equipage   
For the gorram Feds. 

XII   
River is sleeping.   
Serenity must be dreaming. 

XIII   
The sun rose all night long.   
It was dawning   
And it was going to dawn.   
Mal sat and waited  
And watched the sky.


End file.
